Creative Holiday Ideas: Create your own Holiday Ornaments

Hi Everyone,
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I don't know about you, but it is about this time of the year that I realize how close Christmas is (just 27 days away, yikes!) and how much I still have to do to get ready.
The good news is that there is still time to add your own personal touch to the holidays with the cards, gifts and decorations you can create for family and friends. It is also a wonderful way to spend time with your family and create special memories.

Today I wanted to share with you how simple it is to create your own Christmas ornaments to give to family and friends. I love the vintage look created by the watercolored stamped images on the ceramic ornaments.
The images were stamped with Stazon Jet Black Ink and I "watercolored" them using Classic Inks and a Blender Pen to create an heirloom feel. The above ornaments were stamped with images from the Bells & Boughs stamp set, that is currently on sale as part of the ABC Holiday Bundle Sale.  It is a part of the Vintage Christmas Card Bundle and is available in either traditional Wood Mount or the new Clear Mount stamp sets. You can learn more about this wonderful sale here.

The second set of ornaments I want to share with you are stamped with the Merry Crittermas stamp set available in the Holiday Mini Catalog. I love this whimsical stamp set and it reminds me of the joys of childhood at Christmas. Imagine creating personalized ornaments for your children and/or grandchildren that they can treasure and use from year to year to decorate the tree. This beautiful stamp set is also available in wood mount or clear mount and can be found here.

I hope you have enjoyed today's holiday share and I hope that it will inspire you to create your own family heirlooms to treasure for years to come. Please contact me if you have any questions or you would like to place an order. You can also place an order through my Stampin' Up! Online store. Don't forget to check out the wonderful Online Spectacular Sale that runs now through November 30th for great savings of 20-50% off. Click here to visit my Online Store.

Until Next Time.

Happy Stampin',

Tricia Butts

http://www.triciabutts.stampinup.net/

Supplies Used:

Blender Pen Item # 102845 (set of 3) $9.95

Assorted Classic ink pads

Stazon Jet Black Ink Pad Item # 101406 $7.95

Fun with Black & White Tags

Hi Everyone,
Sorry I have been absent for so long. My kids are all back in school and we are slowly getting into a regular routine. With my husband away on business, I have been taking care of everything which has meant very little time for stamping and creating.
So today I thought I would share with you some tags that I created for a swap that I participated in recently. I belong to a wonderful group called Art of the Creative Mind, where we explore creating art using mixed media. It is a lot of fun and really has given me the opportunity to think outside the box.
Anyway, this particular swap was to create two Black & White Tags. Now, I have never really played with this combination before as I tend to gravitate towards color, so this was a fun challenge for me.

I decided to have one tag be black and the other white to explore the different contrasts. I also decided to use two different embossing techniques - heat embossing and dry embossing using my Sizzix Big Shot.

For the Black Tag I used the Stampin' Up Background stamp, En Francais, and stamped it with Whisper White Craft ink. Using white embossing powder and my heat gun, I heat embossed the tag and loved the texture and look of the bold white script on the black cardstock.

To embellish this tag, I used my Scallop Circle punch to punch out my flower shape and then cut between every second scallop towards the center to create the petals. I stamped the pattern using a stamp from the Elements of Style stamp set from Stampin' Up, using Basic Black Classic ink. The small black center flower was punched from black cardstock using the Boho Blossoms punch and I used a clear rhinestone jewel to accent the center of the flower.

The small white tag was dry embossed using my Big Shot and the Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Embossing folder that is exclusive to Stampin' Up. Then I created my sentiment using the For You stamp, also from the Elements of Style stamp set with Basic Black Craft ink and heat embossed it using black embossing powder to add some dimension. I matted it onto a slightly larger circle of black cardstock. The ribbons were some scraps I had left over from another project and just seemed to finish it off.

For the white tag, I decided to again use my Big Shot and the Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Embossing folder to emboss the background to add texture. I created the border across the top using the new Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch from Stampin' Up.  The flowers were punched from white and black cardstock using the Boho Blossoms punch and I accented the centers of each of the flowers with Dazzling Diamonds for a little sparkle.

The letter F and friends were stamped in Basic Black Craft ink and heat embossed using black embossing powder. The stamped images were created with the Vintage Vogue stamp set from Stampin' Up. I carefully cut out the letter F to help it stand out against the white embossed cardstock. I again used a scrap of black ribbon to create the tie for the tag.

These tags can be used for many different projects. You can use them as gift tags, bookmarks, or as an element for your card or scrapbook page. I had so much fun creating these tags and they really are a wonderful way to explore new techniques and color combinations.

I hope you have enjoyed today's creative stamping project and I hope that it will inspire you to try experimenting with tags. Have a wonderful day.

Until Next Time.

Stampin' Hugs,

Tricia Butts

http://www.triciabutts.stampinup.net/

Creative Card Share - Stained Glass Technique with Vellum

Hi Everyone,
Well, my house is slowly getting back to normal and it no longer seems strange that we don't have guests here anymore. It was wonderful to have family visiting us and even though it was for only a short time, the memories will last a lifetime.
Today I thought I would share with you a technique that I have wanted to try for quite a while, but just hadn't gotten around to it. Thanks to a swap that I joined on the group "Art for the Creative Mind", I played with this technique and now I am addicted to it.
Honestly, it is really very simple but the effect is amazing and everyone that I have shown my cards to has just gone "Wow"! Now is that something that we all love?
Here is the original card that I created for my swap partner, Jeri, using the stamp set Elements of Style, the retired stamp set Asian Artistry (the dragonfly) and the background stamp En Francais (all from Stampin' Up). The butterflies are embossed and diecut with the Sizzix Embosslit die, Beautiful Wings and they are enhanced with Dazzling Diamonds for a little sparkle. The floral image has been stamped on vellum and colored on the reverse with my Stampin' Write Markers.

Don't you just love the soft, vintage feel to this card? The vellum gives the impression that the colored, stamped flowers are just floating on the surface of the card. In case you were wondering, the theme for the swap was Dragonflies & Butterflies and I think this card covered them both with style.

Would you like to see how I created this card? Stay tuned for my next post for details on how to create a card similar to this using the same technique.

Until Next Time.

Happy Stampin',

Tricia Butts

http://www.triciabutts.stampinup.net/

Supplies Used (All Stampin' Up):

Stamps: Elements of Style, En Francais, Asian Artistry (retired)

Inks: Basic Brown (retired), Crumb Cake Classic Inks

Papers: Very Vanilla Cardstock, White Vellum Paper

Accessories: Big Shot, Sizzix Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Stampin' Write Markers (Marina Mist, Blushing Bride, Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight, Bashful Blue), Sponge Daubers, Dazzling Diamonds, Two Way Glue Pen

The Birds are Back!

Hello Everyone,
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter with family and friends. I am sorry I have been AWOL the past few days but I what I thought was just allergies has turned into a nasty cough and my voice has practically disappeared. Let me tell you, it has made life challenging with my 4 kids, lol.
Today I thought I would share with you a card that I created with Stampin' Up's new Extra Large Two-Step Bird Punch and the stamp set, Vintage Vogue, both from the Occasions Mini Catalog. Did you know that April is the last month to order from the Occasions Mini? Time really has flown by (sorry, bad pun) and I can't believe that we will soon have to say goodbye to all the wonderful products available in this catalog.

This card is a great reminder that Spring has returned with the two cute little birds perched on the card so cheerfully. I chose to use Melon Mambo cardstock for the card base and stamped the large flower from the Vintage Vogue stamp set all over the card front with Melon Mambo Classic ink for a tone on tone pattern.

The birds were created using Pretty in Pink cardstock for the body of one and Barely Banana cardstock for the body of the second bird. The wings I punched from Whisper White cardstock and then stamped them using the vine stamp (from the Vintage Vogue stamp set) using Sage Shadow Classic ink on one wing to coordinate with the Barely Banana bird and Real Red Classic ink on the other to coordinate with the Pretty in Pink bird. Both of the branches were punched from Soft Suede cardstock.

I took a strip of Whisper White cardstock and stamped it with the vine stamp and Sage Shadow to create an all  over pattern. I then punched one edge with the Scallop Trim Border punch (sorry, now that Sale-a-bration is over this punch is no longer available). I matted the Whisper White strip onto a piece of Barely Banana cardstock.

Last piece of the puzzle, I stamped the F friends stamp (also from Vintage Vogue stamp set) with Sage Shadow onto a piece of Whisper White cardstock and matted it onto a piece of Sage Shadow cardstock.

Now, the fun part - assembling the card. The important thing with this card is to work out your placement before you apply the adhesive. This way you can plan out your layout the way you want it.

The first layer to adhere to your card is the Whisper White-Sage Shadow stamped cardstock that we matted with the Barely Banana cardstock. I positioned it so that it was approx 2/3 of the way down the card and adhered it with Snail Adhesive.

Next I positioned the F friend stamped cardstock piece so that it overlaps the top part of the Melon Mambo card front and the Barely Banana/Whisper White patterned piece. Apply Snail adhesive around the edge of the piece but when you place it on your card, don't apply pressure to the left edge (this is so that you can slide your branches underneath).

Take the two Soft Suede branches, apply Snail adhesive carefully to them and gently slide the end of each branch under the Friend piece to hide it. Gently rub the branches to adhere them to the card and then gently rub the edge of the Friend piece to adhere that to the card.

To assemble your birds, use Snail adhesive to glue the wing to the corresponding body and then using the Soft Suede Stampin' Write Marker draw a dot for the eye on each bird. Then using the Dusty Durango Stampin' Write Marker I colored the triangle for the beak.

Finally, I adhered both birds to the card using Snail adhesive to complete the card.

This card is a great combination of stamping and using punches to create a great card for a friend. You could also add a sentiment to personalize it for a birthday, thank you, thinking of you or get well card.

Hope you have enjoyed today's card share. Don't forget, April is the month to take advantage of the great Stampin' Up products from the Occasions Mini before they disappear (last day to order is April 30th).

Please Contact Me to place your order or visit my Online Store by visiting my Stampin' Up website and clicking Shop Now in the top right corner.

Until Next Time.

Happy Stampin',

Tricia Butts

Products Used (All Stampin' Up):

Stamp Set:  Vintage Vogue - Clear Mount Stamp 118598  Price: $17.95

                                                    Wood Mount Stamp 117690 Price: $23.95 

Set Quantity: 8

Cardstock: Whisper White, Barely Banana, Melon Mambo, Soft Suede, Sage Shadow, Pretty in Pink

Inks: Melon Mambo, Sage Shadow, Real Red

Accessories: Extra Large Two-Step Bird Punch, Scallop Trim Border Punch (currently not available), Soft Suede and Dusty Durango Stampin' Write Markers (from set of 6 In Color Stampin' Write Markers), Snail Adhesive

C is for Creative: A 3D Project

Hi Everyone,

Recently I had the chance to combine my love of decorative painting with my love of stamping and paper crafting and have a little fun. As a member of Chic-Chicks, a yahoo decorative painting group, I participated in a Valentine's Swap with a twist. We had to decorate the first letter of our partner's name and send it to them. The letter had to be at least 4 inches in size and could be made out of wood, paper mache, chipboard etc. and we had the choice of how we would like to decorate it.

I chose a paper mache letter that I found at a local craft store and painted it with a blue acrylic paint to represent the sky. I then added white clouds to the upper sections of the letter.  To decorate the letter I added leaves cut with my Sizzix leaf sizzlit and the butterflies with the Beautiful Wings Embosslit, both from Stampin' Up.  The flowers were created by stamping the large and small flowers from the Stampin' Up Vintage Vogue stamp set and then cutting them out individually. The colors I used were Stampin' Up classic inks in Real Red and Crushed Curry and I stamped them with the new clear mounted acrylic blocks that Stampin' Up just released in January. The butterflies I highlighted with gold acrylic paint to provide some shimmer and I added some bling to the center of the flowers with adhesive backed faux gemstones.  The end result was a letter that reflected a spring day in a field of flowers. 

Overall, I was really pleased with how it all came together and I am looking forward to exploring this type of creative art in the future.  I managed to find a few more paper mache letters recently and I can't wait to see what inspires me with each of them.

Stamps Used: Vintage Vogue - Clear Mount Stamp 118598

Price: $17.95   Set Quantity: 8

Accessories: Big Shot, Stampin' Up Little Leaves Sizzlit die, Stampin' Up Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die, faux gemstone stickers, misc. acrylic paints, cardstock scraps, Stampin' Up Classic Real Red and Crushed Curry Inks.

All Stampin' Up supplies can be ordered from my online store by visiting my Stampin' Up Website and clicking Shop Now in the top right corner or contact me to place your order.  I am happy to help you.

Until Next Time,
Stampin' Hugs,
Tricia Butts